Sometimes apet mousewill have unknowingly been breed at the pet shop and you may be surprised to recover a litter of babies in your mouse ’s cage shortly after bringing her menage . Also , if you take home two mice who were wrong sexed , you may be surprised by a litter . Not to concern , though , as the new mom mouse will likely cope fine , with a short help from you !
What to Do When Your Mouse Has Babies
A mouse that has render birth should bedisturbed as picayune as possibleor she may become agitated and abandon or neglect the babies . This means other than cater food and piddle , you should leave the computer mouse and their coop alone as much as potential for the first couple of weeks . While it is tempting to front at the babies and ensure everything is okay , it is best to leave the mama to do her thing .
Place strips of sewer newspaper or facial tissue paper in the cage so mom can ramp up a soft nest . Ideally , you would do this once you realise your computer mouse is meaning ( it is ordinarily pretty obvious by a couple of days before birth , simply by the rank size of her belly ) .
If you realise your mouse is pregnant , do a thoroughgoing cleanup to prepare for the novel arriver . However , once the infant are born , do n’t clean the cage for a while . Leave it alone for the first 10 to 14 daylight ( you’re able to spot clean really wet berth if perfectly necessary , but debar disturbing the nest ) .
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Make certain to provide plenty of food for thought and freshwater , but makefeedingand watering as efficient and calm as possible .
While it is all right to have a quick peep in the cage on occasion , avoid sitting and watching for foresightful periods .
Keep in head that the mammy will be very protective and may act more belligerent than common ; this is natural and no cause for concern .
Though interference should be avoided if at all potential if for some rarified reason you must move a baby , employ a spoon so you do not get your scent on the baby . It is rarely necessary to move a sister though even if they are out of the nest ; the mammy will normally retrieve any isolated pup and come back them to the nest .
Caring for the Litter
If you have other female mice in the John Milton Cage Jr. , it may be fine to lead them in the batting cage , as they will often help oneself care for a litter . However , sometimes another female person will adjudicate to take over a litter or cause other interference , so ensure other female are helping and not hindering the new mammy . If you have a male computer mouse , though , now is the time to move him out , both to prevent both another gestation ( which can hap shortly after nativity ) and to make trusted he does n’t intervene with mommy raising the bedding ( which is uncommon but possible ) .
The baby black eye will be ready for weaning at about 3 week of geezerhood , and it is full to secern the male pup into one group and the females into another at this point .
ensure you are feeding a high - quality diet with hatful of protein . In accession to a good - quality dieting , you’re able to offer minuscule amounts of hard - boiled egg , bits of cooked chicken , cheeseflower , wheat berry germ or detent cookie to give the mammy a nutritional boost .
Unfortunately , if you experience a pregnant mouse from the preferred store she may be quite young and may not have the skillful mothering abilities . She may be more likely to desolate or even cannibalize her babe . If she does n’t care for them and they are less than 10 days of age , it is extremely difficult to keep the babies . Do n’t seek to handle the babies at all for at least two weeks . It is best to check that you get your mouse from a store that separates Male from females at a young age to avoid surprises like this .
